Top books for the non-fiction lover in your life

Still have holiday shopping? Here are my go-to book recommendations on population

In case you’re still looking for the perfect present for the non-fiction bookworm in your life, here are some of my favorites. All of these are at least population-adjacent, if not directly focused on demography. If you have a favorite, please add it to the comments section.

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For the general interest reader:

1. Extra Life: A Short History of Living Longer. This book by fellow Substack writer

   Steven Johnson
   is a fascinating and optimistic dive into how far modern humans have come in conquering death, gaining so many years of life expectancy that it amounts to an “extra life.” You might want to check out his newsletter,
   Adjacent Possible
   .

2. The Bet: Paul Ehrlich, Julian Simon, and Our Gamble Over Earth’s Future. Great synopsis of the debate over whether the planet is overpopulated. I especially like how Sabin traces the way population and environmental issues became politically polarized. Spoiler: it wasn’t always that way. The Malthusian Moment is another good book that looks at the latter topic.

3. Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World—and Why Things Are Better Than You Think. This is the only book on the list that I haven’t finished reading, but even part of the way through it’s clear to me that I can recommend it, just as I do any and all of Hans Rosling’s TED Talks.

4. Midnight on the Line. A narrative account of one journalist’s border crossing from Mexico to the US. The author isn’t a member of the community, and there are drawbacks to that perspective, but I think the benefits outweighed them because that outsider status allowed him access to some of the legal and procedural details.

5. 8 Billion and Counting: How Sex, Death, and Migration Shape Our World. I mean, I had to include my own new book, right? Buy one for all of your loved ones.

6. A Question of Numbers: High Migration, Low Fertility, and the Politics of National Identity. Fun fact about this one. I love it so much that I approached the authors and asked if they’d be interested in updating it. We’ve worked on a proposal and sample chapters and I’m thrilled to report that this week we signed a contract with Oxford University Press! Our iteration will be focused on how demographic data gets distorted in the political arena. Consequently, it will be 1,000 pages long (kidding, but there are so many examples). It was recently out of print but seems to be in stock on Amazon right now. Especially great for history lovers.

For the more academic reader:

1. Reproductive States: Global Perspectives on the Invention and Implementation of Population Policy. This edited volume includes case study chapters from around the world and some really mind-blowing stories about politicians in the bedroom.

2. Decline and Prosper! Changing Global Birth Rates and the Advantages of Fewer Children. A great primer on why fertility is so low in so many contexts.

3. Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty. I know this book was hugely popular with general interest readers, but the depth of coverage puts it more on the academic side for me. It’s a staple on my shelf.

4. The Politics of Immigration: Contradictions of the Liberal State. A good explanation of why and how supposedly “liberal” democracies have such restrictive immigration policies.

These books make great gifts, especially the middle one! (If you’re an academic, be sure your library has ordered A Research Agenda for Political Demography.) Photo: Justin Fox Burks

I consulted with journalist and data artist Katie Peek on this piece for Scientific American. Some nice visualizations of how drastically global population is changing as fertility converges at lower levels (almost)worldwide.

Happy reading, folks! And while this newsletter is free, I always appreciate monetary support of my work so here’s another option: give the reader in your life a paid subscription to A World of 8 Billion!

I’m aiming for one more newsletter before the end of the year where I’ll report on research for my new book on the history of population politics in the US. Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss it!

Until next time,

Jennifer